Bengaluru: The three Chinese journalists - Wu Qiang and Lu Tang, who head the Xinhua bureaus in Delhi and Mumbai and She Yonggang- a reporter from Mumbai, who have been asked to leave India by July 31, after they had reportedly travelled to Bengaluru and visited Bylakuppe in Kodagu district on a "non journalistic" assignment in April using aliases to meet Tibetans living in exile in the settlements here.
"The purpose of their visit is not known but the fact that they are foreigners and were travelling to 'Protected Areas' without legitimate permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is a gross visa violation and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) can cancel the violators' visas," an official source said.
"The report on their secret visit was sent to Delhi in April, but it has become public now because their visas are expiring in July and the MEA has refused to renew them. They have been given several extensions in the past," said an official source. Karnataka has the biggest Tibetan settlement in the world. There are 36,000 Tibetans, who currently live in the settlements in Bylakuppe, Mundgod, Hunsur and Kollegal.
Though the Tibetan Administration in Exile in South India has denied the information, sources in the MHA reportedly stated that the Chinese journalists were intercepted by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), when they were sent to Bengaluru on a "non-journalistic" assignment in April.
"Tibetan settlements along with other border areas in India fall under the Protected Areas and it is mandatory for foreigners to take permission from the MHA. The permit is given for a period of 30 to 90 days," said an official source.
However, Joint Secretary, Tibetan Government in Exile in South India Chophel Thupten denied that the Chinese journalists met any Tibetan from any of their settlement in Karnataka. "Nobody has met them. They have not visited any of our settlements here," Mr. Thupten insisted.
